My Days with the Reaper
by DeviWan
Summary: Naruto thought he had centuries ahead of him, as Prince of the most powerful Land of all the Lands in the magical world. He was young and powerful, and most importantly, he had time. That was what he thought before a Reaper, loyal servant of death, came into his world and changed it completely. A NaruIta AU story, rewritten and beta-read. Shounen-ai and eventual yaoi. Read/Review!
1. Chapter 1

Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: Gosh; stings every time I say this, but I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot of this story.

Note: I started writing this story and went up to chapter 8, but it wouldn't budge after that. And so I went AWOL and deconstructed and reconstructed and I've come back with _this_. I can guarantee that it's different; and so I don't recommend skipping to chapter 8. Nothing is the same, if you skip, you won't understand. Please enjoy –and review, because we all know reviews are full of love… mostly.

Warning: Character death in this chapter.

Beta-read by Redwitch0587, yay! But all mistakes are mine (if there are any left)

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**My Days with the Reaper**

Chapter One

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_In this magical world, five great lands stand as allies._

_There is the Land of Water, consisting of several smaller islands around its capital; the Mist Kingdom. The Land of Water is known for its beautiful, crystalline water and its mysterious mist. Most of all, however, it is known for its natural inhabitants: the Mer. With their glistening, colourful tails that turn into lean legs on land and mischief, the Mer easily captivate the rest of the magical world. They're creatures of beauty and mischief, mystery and unfaltering loyalty. Their talent provides the world with stunning jewellery, fashioned deep in their crystalline ocean._

_The Land of Water is a close ally of the Land of Lightning. The Island Turtle, the only one in the magical world, travels back and forth between the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning. Because of this a deep and ancient friendship ties the two great lands together._

_The Land of Lightning is a land of mountain ranges and rivers, formed and kept running due to the numerous storms that occur weekly. Their varieties of rivers offer their Mer friends constant access to their land. Like their Mer friends, the people of the Land of Lightning have a special talent. They provide the magical world with all kinds of tools and weaponry. They especially specialise in metal tools; their workmanship unique only to their cloudy land. Their capital is the Cloud Kingdom, a massive mountain with ancient wooden buildings all along the side of it._

_The western, jagged coast of the Land of Lightning shares a large population of harpies with the eastern coast of the Land of Earth. The coast of the Land of Earth is comprised of desolate mountain ranges, making communication with the other lands a difficult task. Harpies populate the east side of the Land of Earth's coast, flying a vast distance over the ocean to the western coast of the Land of Lightning. The capital of the Land of Earth is the Stone Kingdom. This land is most known for its 'Rock Rain' phenomenon. A strong north-western wind carries small rocks from the Land of Earth to the rest of the world. The path in which the harpies fly escapes this phenomenon. On the other side of the Land of Earth's southern mountain ranges is the Land of Wind._

_The Land of Wind, with their endless deserts and ever-changing wind currents, are known for their exotic food and bizarre beasts in their numerous circuses. At the center of this ocean of sand is the Sand Kingdom; an exquisite network of buildings made of hardened sand and stone. The Sand Kingdom worries little for politics and secrecy, opting instead to entertain the rest of the magical world with their travelling circuses and unusual sand beasts. The most popular location for their circuses is the Land of Wind's close neighbour, the Land of Fire._

_The Land of Fire is the most diverse of all the lands, with all sorts of creature that scatter and live all throughout the terrestrial. The Land of Fire is a land of lush green forestry and rich soil. It and the Land of Earth are the magical world's most profound source of sustenance, due to their prosperity in farming. The Land of Fire is the only one of five great lands which has four equal, changing seasons, with the blooms in spring, the leaves in autumn, the heat in summer and the snow in winter. Being the most habitable of all the lands, the Land of Fire is a land of many creatures. Its capital is the Leaves Kingdom, a name originated from the sheer number of leaves present in the land all year round, be it on the trees in spring or on the ground in autumn. The Leaves Kingdom is hidden by the leaves and the canopy._

**x**

The carriage swayed slightly as the ground grew more uneven. Two polite knocks sounded at the little window to her left, and Kushina released the protective magic on it, unlocked it and opened it. A male fairy hovered just on the sill of it, his slight, brown wings fluttering madly. He threw one last glare at someone riding behind the carriage, muttering under his breath about incompetence idiots, and Kushina watched on with amuse eyes. It never ceased to amaze her how such tiny, beautiful creatures could carry such fiery, volatile tempers. Anything could set them off, anything at all.

The fairy looked back at her and bowed slightly in mid-air. His adoration was as clear as day. Kushina herself, despite being a healer, had a bit of fairy blood in her. Although her temper was not as volatile as the rest of the fairy species, it wasn't unheard of for her to once in a while explode upon her husband. The Leaves Kingdom knew to be wary of her temper, but the fairies adored her for it.

"Your Majesty," the fairy said. "I'm very pleased to report that we are now in the Land of Fire. Within four days we expect to see the Great Wall of our home Kingdom." He beamed up at her with sharp, pearl-white little teeth, his chest puffed out and proud. "Please, if there is anything you need, inform me right away and I shall do everything in my power to get it for you."

"That's kind of you," Kushina said, her grin breaking out in the presence of the fairy's contagious smile.

"Well, we all saw how hard you worked to deliver that stubborn baby. It is the very least we could do to make you comfortable on this tiring journey home."

Kushina smiled at the fairy's remark about the baby. It wasn't untrue at all, actually. It had been a long and difficult birth, and Kushina's sympathy went to the poor princess of the Land of Rivers. Her first child and it had taken nearly a whole day. By the end of it, every single person who had helped was exhausted and irritable. If not for the cry of the healthy baby boy, Kushina would surely have regretted her decision to travel across the Land of Fire into the tiny Land of Rivers to help deliver the princess's first born. Nevertheless, the act of kindness had once again strengthened the bond of friendship between the two lands, and Kushina had made sure with her two hands that a baby was born, safe and sound.

"Thank you," she said.

He bowed to her again, before taking off from the window sill in a graceful arc, and then flying back behind the carriage to continue to yell at whoever had displeased him earlier. Kushina let out a quiet chuckle before moving to close the window. A quick flash of movement caught her attention as her hands closed on the window and she leaned her head out to look at the surrounding forest. Seeing nothing unusual, Kushina finally closed the window and moved to get a small, wooden box from under her seat. She opened it and held onto the object inside. It was a black dagger of three blades, a weapon most unusual. Immediately her mind calmed and she dismissed the sense of dread from her head.

Then, much too fast for her to comprehend, something big hit the carriage and her world tiled sideways.

**x**

When she came to, Kushina immediately evaluated her position. The protective spell around the carriage had been shattered. The whole left side of her body ached painfully, and she knew that blood was running down the left side of her head. She was not feeling any unbearable pain, but she knew that was only a matter of time. Soon the pain would come, and she had to be out of this broken carriage before it collapsed on top of her. She got up and into a crouch, quickly tearing off the ends of her long dress and tying it around her head, ignoring the wave of dizziness that assaulted her. She reached up above her head to the door of the over-turned carriage, but then stopped and quickly scrambled for the dagger that was in her hands only minutes earlier. She found it and gripped it tight. Then she got out of the carriage.

Near silence greeted her. Around her laid the bodies of her servants and guards, broken and dead. Only an arm's length away from the carriage laid the tiny, broken body of the fairy who had spoken to her earlier. His body was nearly covered from the dust kicked up from the chaos. Kushina's heart lurched, and she felt the familiar scorching need to avenge him… them, to do unspeakable violence on the ones responsible.

A horse neighed quietly on the far end of the travelling party, far away from the carriage enough that Kushina had to walk towards it and squint.

Nothing moved around her, almost everything was dead, even the horses, even the tiny, defenceless servant elf girls who had been so excited to accompany their party to the Land of Rivers. Kushina could only clutch the blade in her hand and hope to find someone who was not already dead, so she could heal them. The horse on the far end of the party neighed again, this time so quietly that she almost missed it. She moved forward again, her vision hazy and tinged red from the blood running down her head, despite the cloth she tied around it. The horse moved suddenly, and Kushina froze.

The horse had been misshaped, and she saw now as three figures moved away from the dying horse, dirty and thin and crazed. Blood ran down their chin and soaked their filthy shirts. Vampire. They were vampires, and she had no hope of surviving, of returning to her Minato and Naruto.

She could only begin to turn to run the other way, when she felt blood-soaked hands tangle in her long red hair and yank her back. Without hesitation she brought the dagger in her hand up behind her head and cut through her thick hair. Red spilled everywhere and Kushina wasted no time. She ran. With the sharp tip of the middle prong of the knife, she drew a small symbol on her left arm. Blood leaked out from the wound and she held the handle of the knife in her mouth. With her right free hand she drew the wound from her left arm and cast it on the ground beneath her. She jumped over it and continued running. She felt the moment the crazed vampire stepped into the symbol on the ground. Her magic flared up and its footsteps fell silent, frozen inside the symbol which had expanded upon landing on the ground. Her blood was holding it trapped, and only when she died would it be able to move freely once more.

She turned and ran.

She had never ever heard of survivors of vampire attacks. They were an outlawed clan, banned from any and all civilisation due to their frenzied and violent nature. And they truly were a clan. They attacked and fed as clans, which was why there had never been one survivor. Those that they didn't feed on, like the fairies, were nothing but collateral damage. Kushina had little hope for surviving, but it was just as important to her that she tried and fought til her very last breath. To do anything but try her very hardest to get back to her family was unimaginable.

The flash of blue eyes, two pairs and very different in shading, spurred her on. She ran faster at the thought of seeing tan skins again, wild blond hair, contagious grins. Her Minato and Naruto were so close now, so very close. She ran as fast as her legs would let her and clutched the three-pronged dagger tightly in her right hand. She had to keep it. This was the one thing she couldn't let go off.

A demented snarl came from behind her and sharp, bloodied claws descended on her shoulders, dragging her to the ground.

**x**

On a rare evening in the Castle of the Leaves Kingdom, Minato sat with his only son in his lap, feeding the little boy with the big blue eyes.

In an instant horrifying dread rolled over his entire being, and Naruto escaped from his hold and ran to the window. The little boy went on his tip-toes, peering out of the large window. But unlike Naruto, Minato was much older and knew exactly what the feeling was. He knew exactly what he had to do. Minato wasted not a moment, and the second he caught the one eye of young Kakashi and was sure that Naruto would be protected and taken care of, he disappeared.

Only a faint yellow light was left in his place… and that, too, faded out of existence.

King Minato reappeared many miles away, almost to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers. He had reappeared almost on top of a body on the ground. The body of a vampire, to be exact. Buried in its bloody neck was the three-pronged dagger, the reason for Minato's appearance.

Scanning the chaotic site, Minato spotted the over-turned carriage and rushed to it, frantically peering inside. It was empty, of course, and it did nothing to calm him when he smelt the blood of his beloved Kushina. He dared to spare a moment to take in the bodies of servants who had been loyal and lively. Dispelling a harsh breath, Minato pressed the heel of one hand to his forehead when fear and pain engulfed him. These horrific feelings were not his, though, he knew. They were his wife's. She was close, and she was in pain and scared… and she was fading.

"No!" He yelled, spinning from the carriage and spreading his power.

He called the wind to him, gathered it in a tight ball and expanded it over the area in a dome. Soon enough, he felt her, a tiny little blip of life that was weakening with every second. He rushed to her, legs working fast but numb from the fear. His heart was up in his throat. Breathing had never been so difficult. No matter how powerful a king, Minato had never felt so weak and helpless. He could feel every moment as Kushina weakened.

He saw her on the ground, sitting with her back to a thick tree. Her fiery red hair was short and uneven, the lower half drenched in blood that originated from her neck. Her dress was ruined, covered in claw marks of something that meant to cut her up until she couldn't fight anymore. Although she was covered in cuts and tears, she wasn't bleeding as much as she should be. Her blood was gone, and out there somewhere was a vampire who had taken blood from the King's Queen.

Minato stopped taking in her appearance, and went to her. He wasn't a fool. He knew what it meant when Kushina, an extraordinary healer, was resigned and stopped healing herself.

"Kushina…" he called out desperately.

But Kushina did not turn to him. She did not hear him.

Because a Reaper had come for her.

It was a thin creature, floating above the ground, covered head to toe in several filthy layers of ancient cloth. There wasn't much to describe. The Reaper was just there, silent and ancient, and reaching slowly for Kushina.

"No…" Minato staggered closer to them. "Wait!"

The Reaper paused; clothed hand only a hair's breath away from Kushina's bloodied shoulder. Its head turned to Minato, tilted and curious looking. Kushina, too, had turned her head to Minato, but her eyes were unseeing, glazed over with pain and exhaustion. And it killed Minato to know that the only way she could be free of that was when the Reaper finally touched her and guided her soul away.

"Is there no way I can save her? Is there anyway?"

There wasn't. Reapers don't appear until the very last moment. They don't come to do their job until the universe knew for sure that there would be a soul for them to take. The Reaper before him knew this too. It shook its head twice. Its movement was slow, as if it was moving in water.

Minato bowed his head and clenched his fists tightly. He locked his limbs and commanded his body not to move. He could attack the Reaper if he wanted to. Minato was a wind elemental. He could attack the servant of death without touching it and in turn kill himself. He could do that easily, because Reapers are not fighters. Reapers have no weapon to fight with, except for the fact that any physical contact with them meant an instant death. With the wind under his command Minato would have no problem…

But he wouldn't.

Reapers are possibly the most natural beings in both the magical and the human world. They did not take souls away because they were evil or because they had wicked motives. They just did, because that was how the world worked. If Minato attacked this Reaper and stopped it from taking Kushina's soul away, then what he would have would be a wife who felt nothing but the pain her body was in now, who could eat nothing and speak nothing… he would have left a Kushina who would not recognise her own husband and child. It was an unspeakably vile fate, and if he attacked the Reaper, Kushina would never forgive him.

And so he stood, his head bowed as death worked its course, hoping with every fibre of his being that Kushina went to a better place- hoped that he and Naruto would be okay.

**x**

"Where will I go?" Kushina asked the dark being before her. Her mouth wasn't moving, her throat torn past the point of being capable of making a sound. The Reaper heard her question nonetheless, and it answered her in her head.

It spoke in a voice that shocked her with its clarity and tenderness. "I do not know. I have never been to the place where you will ultimately go." It was a voice she could listen to all day long.

Kushina made a displeased gesture with her limp hand. "I'm going to need more than that, Reaper."

For a comical moment, Kushina thought she'd intimidated the Reaper.

"I do not know," it repeated. "I have never moved on. Instead I became a Reaper." It surprised Kushina to know that the Reaper before her had once lived. She had never known this. In fact, this was not information that the living world had. "I will guide you into the Shinigami's Stomach. There it will assess you. Where you go afterwards, I do not know. Will you go into the Pit to suffer and pay for your crimes, or will you be cleansed and wait to be reborn, I cannot tell you."

Kushina ceased asking questions, uncaring about her fate in the end because she felt her Minato. He was so close. She wanted him to come to her, but she was also afraid that he would be blinded by grief and attack the Reaper. She wanted to say his name one more time, but her body was beyond functioning now. It was as good as dead.

The Reaper touched her torn shoulder with its ancient, clothed hand.

She knew it was useless, but she asked anyway. "Won't you take care of them for me? My Naruto and Minato?"

.

.

.

"I cannot."

**x**

Minato sat under the tree until night fell and his guards caught up with him. He sat and held Kushina, covered her up with his cloak and shed his tears. His grief was heavy and he could not think with clarity. The Reaper was gone and so was Kushina.

And out there somewhere was a vampire who had to be killed.

**x**

The Reaper realm was a dry, red desert. The soil was not like the red-orange soil in the Land of Wind. No, it was the red of old, dried blood. The ground was hard and compacted, dry and cracked. It was a vast, flat plane with a rock every now and then. The sky was a slightly brighter red, giving off the illusion that there was a source of light somewhere that made it red-ish orange and not dried-blood red. In every direction were short, thick mountain ranges, but if one was to ever walk towards them, they would find that the mountain ranges moved further and further away. The mountain ranges were for eyes only. It was possible that they were nothing but mere illusions.

The Reaper realm, in all actuality, was a small but endless pocket dimension that existed for the Reapers and the Reapers only. It was a lifeless and uninhabitable place. Only Reapers could exist here. The realm had no predators to disturb the Reapers while they rested, had no changing season, had no natural disaster waiting to happen. It just existed.

What the Reaper realm had access to was what mattered the most. The Shinigami's stomach existed everywhere in the Reaper realm. That is, any Reaper in possession of a soul that they had guided from the living world could open a gateway and send the soul through into the Shinigami's stomach. It was not a complicated system at all.

The Shinigami's stomach had no physical description. No soul had ever been in there and remembered. It was a spiritual place of absolute judgement.

Some souls of the magical world –evil, sinister ones that had committed unspeakable crimes- were judged and deemed too impure to be reincarnated. And so they were sent to the Pit to repent and pay for their sins, cleansing themselves along the way, before being taken back into the Shinigami's stomach for another judgement. There their fate could be a cycle of judgement and suffering, or they were deemed once again pure after paying for their crimes as a living soul. If the latter was the case, higher power would take that soul away for a long period of rest and cleansing, before sending said soul back into the living, magical world to be reincarnated. It could be dozens of thousands of years before a soul was reincarnated. Other souls, ones that were much more innocent and passed the first judgement, go through the same process under the authorities of the higher powers.

This process, although powerful and absolute, was not the process for all souls. Souls of the non-magical world, the Humans, do not ever become reincarnated like the magical souls. Their destiny, each and every soul that was Human, was to become a servant of Death. Each and every Human soul was destined to be a Reaper, to maintain the incredibly fragile flow of life and death.

There was more to be said for the destiny of the Human souls, however the center of attention in this case was the importance of the stability and safety of the Shinigami's stomach.

This processing of all souls was unhindered by the living world. It was of magic much too ancient and powerful for anyone to comprehend. It was the magic of life and death, of fate and destiny and of time and nature. The Shinigami's stomach was not a type of hell; it was a one and only meeting room for all the forces of the universe.

There are billions of souls, magic or not, in the Shinigami's stomach at all times. Each soul is pure, life and death magic on its own. It is power. To have absorbed everything that was in the Shinigami's stomach –a notion more impossible than impossibility- was to be more powerful than anything in existence.

* * *

I know some of you will probably be a bit peeved that I'm mixing different cultures in terms of all the magical creatures and what not, and I'm sorry about that, but I can't change it. I like it the way it is, and so I'm going to make myself happy and make the Shinigami the god of death with Reapers as its servants.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot.

Note: Beta-read by Redwitch0587! All mistakes are mine, though .

Warning: Slight, out of character-ness? Maybe…

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**My Days with the Reaper**

Chapter Two

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"I do not understand."

"You don't need to, Itachi. Do as I say."

"Uzumaki Naruto's presence in the magical world is imperative. I cannot imagine that the Shinigami would require his soul."

"Of course it does, child. All but three Reapers have perished. We cannot hope to keep it fed at this rate. Three cannot do the work of thousands."

Itachi lowered his head at the mention of the other Reapers who have passed. It had been a phenomenon of the worst kind, when Reaper after Reaper turned up dead. It had been an easier time when there were thousands of their kind, guiding souls from the living world and delivering them into the Shinigami's Stomach. The balance that existed between the living and the dead had been maintained. It had been a constant, even flow. It had required thousands of Reapers to be working, thousands of Reapers directly connected to the Shinigami, listening for names and then going out into the living world to secure the souls. But then Reapers started dying out, and the connection with the Shinigami severed.

Of the three of them only Madara retained that connection, but things were not the same. As he said, three reapers could not fulfil the duties of thousands.

Madara drifted above the red ground back and forth, a mimic of pacing. The several layers of cloth he wore fluttered as he moved, but they made no sound. Itachi could not even begin to estimate how old those fabrics were, how long Madara had worn them for.

"Still," Itachi said. "With the recent war in the Land of Rain, thousands of souls are left to wander the battlefield. Once we collect them and bring them here, the Shinigami should be satisfied."

"You speak as if the Shinigami truly is a starving beast! Its sole purpose is to maintain the constant flow of life and death. It cannot do that if we fail to deliver souls to its stomach." Madara ceased his pacing and hovered over Itachi, his anger rolling off of him in violent waves. Behind him, the red mountain ranges of their realm shimmered under the pressure of his anger.

Itachi refused to be intimidated. Madara was the oldest of them yet, but he had been crumbling under the pressure as of late. His judgement may be impaired. "Uzumaki is but one soul."

"He is but one soul, yes, but he is the soul. His is worth thousands of others."

"Only because he is destined. He will bring peace across all the Lands. Uzumaki Naruto is destined for greatness. The Shinigami knows this."

"The Shinigami is weakened. Its state is that of an ancient, dying beast. We must act now and give it the power that it needs. Taking the souls off the battlefield in the Land of Rain, even if all three of us work together day and night, would take much too long." Then his voice softened, becoming the gentle voice of the mentor Itachi remembered and love, the mentor who had been so carefree before the burden of staying connected to the Shinigami weighed him down. "Itachi, I know of Uzumaki's destiny, but he would always be reincarnated. He would always fulfil his destiny in another lifetime, but for this one, he must be the soul to awaken the Shinigami from its weakened trance."

It took a long time, but eventually Itachi nodded and said he would do as Madara asked him.

"But what will you do? I do not see a reason why you could not go to Uzumaki yourself."

"I've already started clearing up at the battlefield in the Land of Rain. You know that I cannot abandon my post once I've started."

Itachi slowly nodded.

As he tightened his cloths and the rope around his neck, Itachi travelled out of the Reaper Realm and into the living world.

Madara could be very convincing, especially when he knew that Itachi treasured the memories of earlier days, when Madara had been their beloved mentor. But Itachi was not stupid. He had noticed how Madara changed. The burden of maintaining the connection with the Shinigami should never have been the responsibility of one Reaper. It was unheard of and extremely dangerous. Madara had lasted all these decades; there had to be a repercussion. Itachi was keeping an open mind. He would not be surprised. They couldn't afford to be.

**x**

"I hope this is teaching you a lesson," Hatake Kakashi said.

Kakashi was an odd looking man, half demon and half lightning elemental. His hair was a silver untamed mess, leaning over to the left side of his head. Some people said that he was struck by a lightning bolt as a very young child, which turned his hair permanently silver. Others said that his mother made a mistake while using a spell to cut his hair, also when he was a child, and his hair had been silver ever since; the spell unfixable. Although there were many creative ways which people came up with to describe his hair, Kakashi's own personal favourite would be the one where he had silver hair because his father had it. It was genetics. Many dismissed that one because it lacked a certain flare to it.

He wore dark trousers and thick black boots. His top was also dark in colour, with a thick sleeveless, hooded vest over it. The vest was made of an unknown material; so dark in colour that it appeared to suck in all the light and colour around it. This was a vest that allowed Kakashi to control his element without harming himself; a vest most suitable for a lightning elemental. Across his back he had strapped on a metallic rod the length of his own arm. The most noticeable thing he wore, however, was his dark, skin-tight mask. The mask had been on his body almost just as long as his silver hair had. There were only three people in the whole of the magical world who could claim to have seen his real face; although for two of these three people, it could have been a drunken hallucination and they wouldn't know otherwise. The dark clothing and the mask, along with a rolled up piece of cloth he tied around his head and over his left eye gave him the overall appearance of a shadow- a speaking, walking shadow.

"Although I must admit, this is a new experience for the both of us," Kakashi continued to speak.

The person he spoke to, a handsome youth who sat on the stone floor with his back to the wall, groaned.

"It's not possible, right? Please tell me it's not possible!"

Kakashi smiled; an act only noticeable because his one visible eye crinkled. "Well, Naruto, when a man and a woman get intimate, and the man is a young, reckless, spoiled, irresponsible… pureblood elemental…" Naruto rolled his bright blue eyes. "… I… I forgot what I was saying."

Naruto threw his hands in the air. "I meant… I've never seen that woman before! She can't be _that_ massively pregnant, with my child, if I've never seen her before." The blond drew his knees up to his chest and circled his arms around them. "I can't be a dad, Kakashi. That's just… I can't even imagine! How does she know it's mine, anyway? She could totally be making it up, you know?" He said with a pout.

"That's precisely why we're here."

"Yeah," the blond sighed. After a stretch of silence, he perked up. "But in the meantime, I'm going for a walk."

"Naruto," Kakashi said warningly. "Your father is on his way."

"Oh. Well, all the more reason for me to get going! Bye!"

"Naruto!"

But Naruto was gone. With a simple flick of his wrist he was gone, speeding down the halls of the castle and out through an open window like a gust of wind. He landed outside of the castle wall and travelled from there on his own legs, aided by the wind at his command. The castle sat atop a hill, overlooking the kingdom under it. It wasn't too long a distance between the first house under the hill and the castle, but Naruto crossed the distance in a matter of seconds. He was nothing but a quick blur across the afternoon sky.

Naruto was a wind elemental like his father, but unlike his father, Naruto was pureblood. Apart from the blood, there wasn't too much of a difference between them. The exception being that Naruto had the potential to _be_ the wind, to shed his physical form and be part of the wind. King Minato didn't have this ability. By all reasoning, Prince Naruto had the ability to surpass his father. Only, King Minato had hundreds of years of experience controlling the element. He understood it and respected it and knew each and every way that the wind could turn. Naruto just barely knew the basics. His use of his power was more creative, but not at all useful.

At this current time, Naruto was making his way to the house of the Inuzuka clan. His friend Kiba would shelter him for a while; Naruto was sure of it.

The child that the nymph was carrying wasn't Naruto's. Of that he was certain. He would remember if he had slept with a blue-headed nymph. The fact that he didn't just meant that the nymph was making the story up. And anyway, he'd always, _always_ been careful about these things. He'd never made a mistake once; therefore, the nymph was lying to get his dad's sympathy and ensure she had a comfortable place to live in the royal palace. Because his dad was way too nice about these things… and the nymph had a gigantic, rounded belly that she claimed was carrying Naruto's child.

Only old lady Tsunade could prove the nymph wrong.

Only, Tsunade was drunk the last time Naruto saw her… and she may just side with the nymph to teach him a lesson.

"Hmm," he hummed to himself, frowning. He came to a stop in a tiny little clearing, next to a water well.

The whole situation shouldn't even be able to come about. There was a slight, tiny little possibility that his dad had set this up. Lately with the King of the Land of Fire it had been all about teaching Naruto one lesson or another.

The turning of his nineteenth year, Naruto thought, despite the massive party and all the food and company, had brought along with it the notion that he was ready to take on responsibilities. Where it came from, he had no idea. All he knew was that he was not yet ready to take on any important role. He would be honoured to, one day possibly in fifty years, to take his dad's place and watch over the Land of Fire, but for now he had to live with no regret. He had to have fun and flush it all out of his system so that when he stepped up to the throne, he would be just like his dad, powerful and responsible and smart but better looking.

A hand came out of nowhere and tapped Naruto's forehead.

He paddled backwards, arms circling ridiculously. "Wha…" The person before him came into view, sudden and dark, and Naruto knew he had been mistaken when he thought of the thing as a person. "No… no," he breathed, blue eyes wide and unblinking. He took a step backwards, and another and another. His heart pounded startlingly in his chest and a nervous ball of energy dropped deep in his stomach.

With a violent push of his palms at the ground Naruto flew backwards, putting a more significant distance between himself and the Reaper who had just touched him…

Naruto wasn't dead.

The Reaper had touched him and he didn't die. It wasn't a delayed reaction either. Naruto wasn't feeling light-headed or weak or anything at all. He just wasn't dying.

The Reaper seemed to have come to the same conclusion, though it didn't look surprised. It was hard to tell, what with it being covered completely and utterly in filthy, ancient rotten rags, but Naruto didn't detect surprise. He detected nothing really… maybe a hint of… no, nothing.

Too stunned by the situation to form words, Naruto watched as the Reaper's head turned from its raised hand –the one that had just touched Naruto's forehead- to Naruto. Naruto raised both hands up in a defensive position. He didn't die upon first touch, which meant that he had a fighting chance, but all the same he didn't want to risk it. Maybe the second time would do the trick.

He didn't know why a Reaper had come for him. It was not his time to die, Naruto was as sure of that as he was sure that the nymph wasn't carrying his child. It was not his time; so he would do everything in his power to not be touched by the Reaper a second time.

The Reaper didn't come for him a second time.

Instead it disappeared. One moment it was there, and the next it was gone, leaving behind delicate tendrils of dark purple smoke.

Naruto didn't relax. The Reaper couldn't be gone, not just like that. What he knew of Reapers –at the moment much too little for his comfort- was that they always did their job. They didn't back away just because there was a glitch in their power to kill. But at the same time, he was so relieved! His heart was still pounding away like crazy, but Naruto's body was doing that shaking thing where he knew that, in a few minutes, he would collapse.

He spun, arms still raised defensively. His eyes narrowed and darted each and every way.

When the clearing remained silent and he was sure that the Reaper would remain gone, Naruto ran as fast as he possibly could, faster than he's ever run in his entire life.

His legs carried him back to the castle, the wind pushing at his back in a constant stream, pushing and pushing and pushing. Eventually the ground increased in angle and then he was going uphill. He pushed at the ground with his palms splayed out. A violent explosion of wind pushed out from his palm, and he shot up towards the sky. He started to descend once more and used the momentum to propel himself forward. With his arms now down by his side, continued to push at the wind and flew forward. In his wake he left a chaotic trail of dust and dirt.

No matter how fast he was travelling, or how far away from the water well he had come, Naruto still looked over his shoulders. Now that he was slightly calmer and in control of his shuddering body, he noticed a chill at the back of his neck. It wasn't over. Naruto may be young and reckless, but he had always had reliable instincts. It ran in the family. It had never failed him before and it was not failing him now. The Reaper was gone for now, but he was coming back. Naruto knew that.

All he had to do was be prepared.

**x**

"I did as you told," Itachi said as he materialized into the Reaper realm. "However, Uzumaki Naruto did not die by my touch."

Madara remained floating on the spot, his head hung down in the position that meant he had been in a deep sleep. Reapers did not need to sleep regularly like the living, but they had consciences, and so they needed to rest every once in a while. Itachi and Sasuke were still young, and needed to rest more regularly than Madara. And when they did fall into the deep trance, they took a long time to come out of. Madara was awake now, obviously, but he did not react to Itachi's news. Still, Itachi watched him carefully.

"No?" The older Reaper asked quietly. "No, I didn't think he would."

"Then we will leave him. I'll help you with the souls in the Land of Rain."

Madara didn't respond.

"Don't be too hasty," he finally said, after floating upwards and away from Itachi. "The fact remains that his soul alone will maintain the balance in the Shinigami's stomach. You'll simply find another way to attain his soul. Do you understand?"

If Itachi had on his human form, his eyes surely would have narrowed in agitation. Madara was acting peculiar; he had been for a while now, but for the sake of their relationship Itachi had ignored it and blamed it on the pressure of maintaining the only connection with the Shinigami. Itachi understood Madara completely on his thoughts on the Uzumaki soul. Just one single soul and almost all their current problems could be solved, temporarily. But there laid another, more vital problem. Uzumaki Naruto's destiny… well, Itachi didn't know the exact details. He hadn't been a Reaper at the time that the child's destiny was spun. He knew, though, that Uzumaki was much too important to be taken away. The Shinigami, no matter how starved and weakened it was, would never ever tell Madara to feed it Uzumaki's soul. Never.

With a heavy heart, Itachi was faced with what he'd feared ever since it had just been the three of them- _the ugly truth_. Madara was not the caring mentor who had taken Itachi and Sasuke under his tutelage.

He had changed.

Itachi wasn't sure if this change was due to Madara being the only connection to the Shinigami, or if it was something else. All he knew was that he was a Reaper, and no matter how much he loved Madara, he lived to serve the lord of death. He was a servant of the being that maintained life and death.

And if Madara was going to jeopardize that, he had no choice but to interfere.

"Itachi." Itachi started when he felt Madara grip his cloth covered chin, tilting his head upwards. They had no eyes to make contact with, only more and more ancient cloth. "Do you understand what I am asking you?" Madara's tone was devastatingly caring, and it only served to tear Itachi apart.

"I do," he replied quietly. "I trust you, Madara."

The older Reaper made a pleased sound and placed a cloth wrapped hand on top of Itachi's covered head, an act achingly, platonically familiar.

The older Reaper vanished, leaving behind thin tendrils of dark purple smoke. He may be going to the Land of Rain to continue to collect the lost souls of the soldiers who had died on that barren battlefield, or he may be going somewhere else. Itachi hated that he couldn't be too sure.

Left alone in the barren, silent Reaper realm, Itachi took his time to compose himself. He'd never been more grateful for the ancient fabrics that covered him from head to toe, if only because it made him that much more difficult to read. Madara would have taken his quiet hesitancy as just that; hesitation. He had no idea that he was hurting Itachi, and that Itachi had no intention of taking Uzumaki's soul into the Shinigami's stomach. He loved Madara, but his loyalty to the Shinigami and the balance it preserved tore him the other way.

"I trust you…" he muttered hollowly to the empty realm, bringing up a cloth covered hand to clench over a place where his beating heart had once been.

**x**

Early into the evening, when the sun had just gone beyond the horizon and the sky was a blend of blue and purple and orange and pink, Hatake Kakashi –Captain of the Royal Guard- found the Prince of the Land of Fire in his father's office. He released a soft sigh and closed the heavy door to the king's study. Naruto did not acknowledge his entrance, but his jaw was locked tight and his shoulders tense, no doubt aware that he wasn't the only person in the room.

"The child that the nymph is carrying is a lightning elemental half nymph, half demon," Kakashi started. "Congratulations your Highness, you're not going to be a father. On the other hand, the nature of this unborn child directs all the suspicions towards me. Lady Tsunade is now quite positive that it is _my_ child the nymph is carrying." He paused and waited for Naruto's response, which he did not receive. "Of course that is quite impossible as I have not slept with a nymph in over ten years." Another pause and again no response. Kakashi breathed a long, quiet sigh. "As of this moment your father is dealing with the woman. He will give her enough to support herself and her child, but she won't be posing any problem for the royal family any time in the future."

At the mention of his father, Naruto blinked out of his trance and unclenched his teeth.

"Good," he said softly. "Yeah… good. I'll… I'll just go. Somewhere… wherever."

The young prince slowly stood up, wincing from a pain that Kakashi knew nothing off. He never really stood, though, because Naruto's shoulders remained hunched in a way, and his blue eyes dulled and downcast. The space around him dulled and Kakashi watched worriedly as Naruto swayed before walking towards the door. Naruto walked past him, his eyebrows furrowed, and Kakashi gently grabbed his elbow.

"Naruto," he said softly. "What happened?"

In the back of his mind Kakashi thought idly that perhaps it wasn't his duty to worry about Naruto at such an emotional level, and yet he could do nothing _but_ worry. Naruto had been his charge ever since he was born; a little brother he never knew he could have.

"What happened?" He repeated in a firmer voice.

"There was a Reaper," Naruto said quietly. His eyes stayed glued to the marble floor.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened and he swung Naruto around, taking hold of both the younger man's shoulders. It had been over a year since he's had to look down to meet Naruto's eyes, but in this moment –despite the wide, muscled shoulders under his palms- he could swear he'd never seen Naruto so small.

"But it didn't touch you, right?" He made a face under his mask. "No, of course not. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." Kakashi took a deep breath and calmed his wildly beating heart. "Okay, Naruto. You should know not to be concerned. Reapers only take the souls of those already dead and those who refuse to part with their body. You're neither."

"That's it!" Naruto suddenly snapped, swiping his arms up to bat Kakashi's hands from his shoulders. "It touched me. It tried to kill me! Why? How can I possibly be dying already? I have literally hundreds of years ahead of me." He paused and winced, backing away from Kakashi to lean against King Minato's desk. Naruto clutched at his forehead and groaned. He'd obviously been drinking then. "Reapers can make mistakes, right? I mean, who's deciding these things? Who's telling it to come after me?"

Kakashi's lone eye softened with pity. The business with the Reaper was not something anyone had dared to mess with. Reapers made no mistake, none whatsoever because they answered directly to the powers that be. That was what Kakashi was taught as a child. That was what _anyone_ was taught as a child. Naruto was been taught the same lesson as a child too; Kakashi had been there to watch him learn. But, no matter how ingrained the lesson was in Naruto's head, in the actual face of death, it ceased to matter. Kakashi, too, was finding it difficult to imagine that Naruto's time had come.

In fact, he didn't believe one bit of it.

After all, although it was damn hard to, it was not impossible for one to trap a Reaper in a well-placed trap and bind it and force it to do one's biding. It was almost unheard of, but not impossible. Somewhere deep in King Minato's private library was a harmless replicate of that particular seal. He had no doubt that somewhere else in this magical world, there was another replica. And out there were many, many people who wished to destroy the good King Minato by ridding him of his only son.

"No one, Naruto," Kakashi said at last. "No one is telling it to come get you. Come, we'll speak to your father about this."

"No," the young prince moaned, his head rolling backwards tiredly. "He can't know about this, alright? If I'm gonna die…" He paused, frowned. "Well, I'm not going to. I'm not dying. I'll solve this problem all by myself. He doesn't need to know."

"Naruto," Kakashi said in a warning tone, like he did mere hours ago before Naruto ran off and met a Reaper. "You know things never go well when you say that."

And indeed, things were already starting to '_not go well_.'

In the far corner of King Minato's study, over the space above the ancient vase which the Nara clan had given the King as a gift, shadows gathered in a dense cloud. Kakashi watched as it condensed and expanded, taking the form of a thin, featureless creature. The thinner shadows solidified and became the edges of ragged, ancient cloaks. There were several layers of the cloaks, covering the creature from its head to its feet. There wasn't much else to describe the creature; just its complete covering and the fragile looking rope that was tied around its thin neck, like it died having been hung.

Naruto's shoulders dropped.

"What? What's behind me? Is it the Reaper?" He scoffed, but then gulped nervously when Kakashi failed to answer him. "You jinxed us! You said that things never go well, and now the Reaper's here!" He snapped his head around, quickly taking in the silent, looming form of the Reaper, before turning back around to walking right past Kakashi. He opened the door and said in the most sorrowful voice, "Sorry, Kakashi, but I'm going to my dad with this." Then Naruto ran, leaving Kakashi alone with the Reaper.

Kakashi did not know what to do. On one hand he wanted desperately to run after Naruto, but no, because that would mean he was running right alongside the Reaper's target. On another hand, he shouldn't be afraid because the Reaper was not here for him. And Reapers never unreasonably kill.

He raised a jerky hand and waved.

"Hello," he said. The Reaper did not respond; the billowing of its dirty cloaks the only movement. Kakashi gulped silently. What was he to say? It would make sense to try and negotiate with it, for Naruto's sake, but who was he to negotiate with a Reaper? What did he –or anyone- have that a Reaper would want? Reapers are dead, they did not need anything. But… on the other hand, maybe it really was trap and was doing the bidding of someone who wanted to hurt the royal family.

"Naruto cannot die," Kakashi stated. "I'm sure you know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that this is wrong." How would he prove his case, though? How did one go about explaining someone like Naruto –who was all lively, and energy and lightness and brightness- to a dead thing like a Reaper? Did Reapers even talk? There'd been almost no record of Reapers; most certainly no record at all of Reapers conversing with the living.

"I understand your concern," it said.

Ah ha!

"Good!" The silver-haired warrior latched on, barely giving himself time to acknowledge that the Reaper had a male voice. "So then you won't go after him, anymore… Unless you have no other choice. Are you, in anyway, trapped? Is someone forcing you to come after the Prince of the Land of Fire?"

A dark, covered head tilted slowly to the side, curious. "No."

It vanished, as if it had been an illusion from the start and someone had slapped Kakashi to wake him up. Mysterious purple smoke was all that was left, curiously swirling in the space that the Reaper once occupied.

Kakashi sighed, calmed his heart, and took off after Naruto.

The King would know what to do. King Minato always knew what to do when Naruto got himself in trouble.

Following the slight lingering traces of Naruto's nervous energy, Kakashi found himself standing in a doorway of Lady Tsunade's medical chamber, witnessing a scene he never thought possible.

The Reaper had beaten him to Naruto, and was currently holding up a thin hand, as if to soothe the terrified prince. Two guards had moved to protect the young prince, only to be held back by King Minato. In the far corner of the room Lady Tsunade herself was shielding the pregnant nymph.

"Don't worry," the Reaper said softly. It was possibly the most bizarre thing Kakashi had ever heard from something trying to kill its prey.

"Like hell!" Naruto yelled, yanking a deep marron table cloth from behind him, scattering Lady Tsunade's notes and various jars all over the floor. Quick as lightning he threw the cloth over the Reaper's head, completely covering it from head to mid-thigh. Then he launched himself at it, circling strong arms around the Reaper. Both crashed onto the floor. Naruto immediately started throwing punches, which Kakashi thought slightly pointless, considering that Reapers had no physical bodies to experience pain. The Reaper grunted lowly, thrusting its palm at Naruto's chest, expelling air from the blonde's lungs. Naruto fell away from it, coughing and desperately trying to get air back into his lungs.

King Minato quickly herded the guards out, along with Kakashi.

"Quickly, all of you, out!" He commanded. "Tsunade," he looked back at the fair lady, who nodded and grabbed hold of the nymph's arm. The two women liquefied before splashing onto the stone floor and disappearing. They reappeared next to Kakashi, solid and dry. With all six of them out of the medical chamber, King Minato shut the door, locking his son and the Reaper in.

Unbelievable silence followed the chaos.

"Um," one of the guards uttered uncertainly as he clutched his sword close to his chest.

King Minato expelled a quick breath, lips tightening into a thin line. It was the expression he reserved only when Naruto got himself into trouble. He'd worn it earlier today, when he had been informed that a pregnant nymph had claimed to be carrying his grandchild.

"The Reaper said not to worry," the great King said. "I will heed his advice, if my son does not."

**x**

Blind panic was what it was. Well, blind panic as well as rage and frustration and fear. They were the reasons that Naruto continued to pound his fists into the Reaper, again and again and again, never faltering because Naruto was strong and he could do this all night long. Beneath him the damn thing did nothing, just laid there and took it like a lifeless doll. Its head snapped this way and that, and even though Naruto put a lot of power behind each hit, he doubted that it felt any pain. Reapers had no physical bodies, right? He'd read that somewhere, maybe.

He groaned, irritated at his fruitless efforts, and quickly backed away from the death dealer. The Reaper sat up from the stone floor and swatted the red table cloth off of its head. Naruto could only watch with a sneer. The Reaper touched a cloth covered hand to its own face. "Had I been living, you would have killed me," it said calmly, its voice soft and deep.

"I know," Naruto growled. "And if you come at me again I'll do the same thing. I'll fight you until the end, but you're not taking me, you understand?"

The Reaper silently rose, up and up and up, off the ground. Its several layers of dirty cloaks were well over two metres long, covering its feet, if it had any. It was a figure most disturbing to watch; tall, thin and dark, featureless. As it rose from the ground into mid-air, Naruto had a moment to think how unlikely it would seem that something as fragile looking as this Reaper could bring about death. Because it _was_ fragile. It was thin and it didn't have _any_ power to defend or to fight. Naruto had never seen any other Reaper, and he didn't know if they were all as thin as this one, but he knew that Reapers had no powers. They were not elementals. And since they could not die or experience pain they had no need to learn to defend themselves. They were as helpless as… well, as humans, then.

"After I told you not to worry, you attacked me," the Reaper said, its head tilting sideways. "We have already established that you would not die by my touch. Come, see?"

It dove forward and gripped Naruto's head tightly in both its hands. Naruto shrieked, high and loud and not unlike Sakura when she discovered the harmless snakes Naruto left in her bed when they were children.

His shriek went on and on, and this was how he knew he didn't die.

Eventually his scream died down and he was left with his mouth awkwardly wide open, his eyes bulged in fear, and the Reaper's hand on both sides of his head, over his ears. It was all too disturbingly intimate. Everything froze. The Reaper made no further move. It just froze there, in mid-air, cradling Naruto's head and Naruto just stood there, gaping like a fish.

That's when the door opened and Minato jumped in.

* * *

There you go, second chapter up! Tell me what you think, guys. It's obviously very different from the old version.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: Gosh; stings every time I say this, but I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot of this story.

Note: Please enjoy –and review, because we all know reviews are full of love… mostly. Beta-read by Redwitch0587. She's so sweet!

Warning: Okay, there's always going to be a slight possibility of out-of-character-ness.

x

**My Days with the Reaper**

Chapter Three

x

It was an awkward position to be caught in, Naruto knew. He was somewhat of an expert at being caught in compromising positions, in all actuality. Obviously his dad won't immediately jump to the conclusion that Naruto was now banging the Reaper –ugh, _no_- but still, a compromising position was a compromising position, and Naruto had a long history of being caught in one.

"Ahhh…" Naruto let out. He thought of an explanation to his father's bewildered expression and upon coming up with none, he let out another '_ahhh'_ of a higher note.

"Um."

"I will remain here," the Reaper said suddenly, letting go of Naruto and moving so that it hovered before the King. It bowed, polite and respectful and more than surprising to Naruto. Judging from his father's eyes, however, the King himself was not at all surprised by the Reapers courtesy. "Uzumaki Naruto would not die by my touch," it started. "And for this I would like to observe why. Will you allow me into your castle, Your Majesty?"

Naruto spluttered at being spoken of as if he was not at all in the room. Still, neither his dad nor the Reaper acknowledged his protest.

"Usually there is a reason when a being does not die by touch, Reaper," Minato replied, calm and his blue eyes piercing. The way his blue eyes looked up at the hovering Reaper, intense and unwavering, suggested to Naruto that they might be having their own silent conversation. It was all too possible too, because both his dad and the Reaper had more knowledge than he, centuries more probably. The things that they knew Naruto hadn't even begun to comprehend yet, and because of this, Naruto had no way of understanding their separate conversation.

"There usually would be," the Reaper spoke up again after a long stretch of silence, its voice ever so soft and polite; a voice most contradicting of its horrendous appearance. "And in this case, there _is_. But King Minato, there is no need for worry."

"That's a bit vague," Naruto muttered darkly to himself, knowing that both his father and the Reaper would ignore him.

King Minato stared at the Reaper for a long time, his light eyebrows furrowed in a concerned frown.

"If I refuse you?" The King said at last, unknowingly lifting a massive weight off of Naruto's shoulders. "I would like to know first what you would do to ensure your place in this castle."

"I think you already know what I would do to make sure that I have access to your son at all times. Don't make me do that, please. Leave me to my business."

"Your business _is_ my business!" Naruto yelled. Momentarily abandoning reason, he yanked at the Reaper's arm and spun it around. Behind the Reaper Naruto distantly noted that his dad already looked like he was agreeing to the Reaper's request. "You're talking about my life! You really expect my dad to just let you follow me everywhere like that!?"

"Yes," it said. "Or would you like me to kill off one of your friends? One for each day that you and the King refuse me?" Naruto silenced at the threat. "Understand, Prince, that there is nothing to stop me from doing as I like, but out of my respect for your father I am asking for his permission to wander in his castle."

Colour drained from Naruto's usually tan face and he felt the first brush of hysteria bubble up in his chest. Words escaped him and he found himself spluttering, mad with rage, as he looked back and forth between his father and the Reaper. It was unbelievable. "You're seriously threatening my friends?" Naruto growled. At his sides his hands clenched into fists, chakra leaking out in thin, violent tendrils.

"Naruto," King Minato said warningly, but Naruto didn't hear him.

"You're _threatening_ my friends," he said again, this time more of a statement than a question.

"Not just your friends," the Reaper replied at last, not noticing or not caring for the intense leakage of chakra from the youth in front of it. "The servants and staff of this castle too. One for each day that you refuse me."

"They have nothing to do with any of this!"

"Naruto!" The King snapped.

Naruto reeled back, shocked that when his father finally raised his voice it was aimed at his own son. The King pulled Naruto back away from the Reaper with surprisingly gentle hands and stood in his son's place. He looked up at the hovering Reaper.

"I will trust that you will do no wrong," he said. "Do not touch another living being while you are in this castle and you have my agreement. You have my cooperation, but not my son's. Don't forget this."

The Reaper remained silent and Naruto let out an unbelieving whine.

**x**

Okay, so this much Naruto knew: he couldn't –_wouldn't_- die by the Reaper's touch like every other living being in this world, which in turn made the Reaper curious and made it want to stick around Naruto every hour of the day. His father, the King, was so sure of his son's immunity to the Reaper that he allowed it access to the castle, after making a deal with it that it would not kill anyone while it was staying here. So now Naruto had a second unwelcoming shadow, but for the safety of everybody else around them, King Minato couldn't expel the Reaper. And there were ways to do that. There was a way to trap a Reaper and bind it to a person and there was a way to expel it from the vicinity for a short period of time – only for a short period of time though; one cannot cheat death.

But the price of doing that was too high and Naruto would rather have the Reaper be near him all day long and touch him every ten minutes, than risk it taking the life of someone who would otherwise live for a whole lot longer.

Naruto was in the middle of a lesson with Iruka, discussing the different lifespans of different creatures, when he came to the conclusion that if there was one person in this castle who did not mind the Reaper's presence at all, it was Iruka. Naruto could see his eyes brimming with curiosity every time he glanced at the looming shadow behind Naruto. Every time, like, literally every single time… with the widening of the eyes and the spluttering and the need in his gaze, as if he'd explode if he didn't ask the Reapers all his questions. Frankly, Naruto couldn't care less about Iruka's list of a thousand questions, except that the mere thought of the Reaper anywhere near Iruka, talking to him, made Naruto sick.

A light touch to his shoulder brought Naruto out of his thoughts.

Immediately he froze, waiting for the end, and when that didn't come he swatted the hand away and twirled around, insult ready to fire. Only it wasn't the Reaper that had touched him. His mentor stared back at him, shocked.

"Naruto?" Iruka said.

Naruto peaked around his elf mentor, a feat that had become surprisingly easy since he'd grown a bit taller than Iruka. Iruka's study, where Naruto was forced to learn his lessons, was a sunlit room with large windows on one side of the wall and massive bookshelves on two other sides. A large table sat in front of the windows, clustered with books. Naruto and Iruka usually sat on opposing sides of the table, Iruka with his back to the windows and Naruto with his back to the door. Now Iruka stood behind Naruto, having moved behind the youth without being noticed.

"Where is it?" Naruto asked.

Iruka blew an exasperated sigh. "I wish you'd stop calling him 'it.' Dead or alive, Reapers do have genders too, Naruto."

"Yeah, right," Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms as he turned back to facing the table. He brought his right leg up and rested his ankle on top of his left knee. "I always thought of them as these beings with a conscience. If one has a male voice it's probably because that's what it chose to be able to communicate. It doesn't mean they have males and females, Iruka. They don't need babies, therefore they don't need to have sex… which means… what?"

His mentor stood shockingly still, a wide, tensely insincere smile on his lips. Naruto wasn't at all comforted by that smile, which mostly had something to do with how Iruka's eyes seemed to glare at him right to his soul.

"Naruto," Iruka said calmly, his fist clenching at his side. "That's very impressive reasoning," the 'for you' went unsaid. "Only, please refrain from offending the Reaper further by calling him 'it.'"

"Why? It hasn't tried to stop me from doing it. It doesn't even seem to be offended. You're just being too considerate, Iruka."

A small, quiet laugh escaped the scarred man's stiffly smiling lips. "Alright, take a break. Go away before I hurt you."

Naruto grinned widely; this was almost too good to be true. A break in the middle of Iruka's lessons, how great was that? No, no, he had to play it cool. Couldn't seem too eager otherwise Iruka may just take it back to spite him. He would totally do that. "Why?" Naruto asked nonchalantly. "We were just getting started. I'm interested in this lesson, too. What with how my dad can live for centuries and I'm apparently gonna live twice as long as him. Interesting stuff."

"Assuming the Reaper doesn't get you first. Out, Naruto! And don't come back in without your Reaper."

Laughing, Naruto stood up and waved his hands. "Oh, what a difficult ultimatum you've given me. You realise I'm not even gonna try coming back, right?" He turned around and walked right into the Reaper's hand. Screaming, he jumped back and knocked his chair over. And then, just for the sake of it, he continued to yell and shout in the Reaper's face. His heart was pounding, damn it, and this stupid Reaper may just be the death of him, really.

Iruka was laughing. His long time mentor was laughing at his pain. "Oh, good," he said in between snickers. "Your Reaper's here. Now you don't get a break."

"What?!" The prince whined. "Oh please Iruka! I'm starving! Let me go, just this once?" He cupped his hands together in front of his chest and widened his eyes.

"Naruto, you just had breakfast. Literally an hour ago you just ate enough to feed a small army."

"So?"

"So," Iruka huffed, "You don't get a break to eat, not yet. Let's get through at least one topic today, okay?"

Naruto let out another wordless whine, roughly righting the toppled chair and sitting himself down, pout on his lips. He ignored the dark form in his peripheral.

"Seriously, you're going to be king someday. You need to know these things, Naruto."

"That could be centuries away. My dad's gonna be king for a really long time. _I_ have time. I study everything now and then what? Just sit around and wait to be king?"

"No, after you learn everything that you need to know, _then_ you can play around."

"Ah, I think you have that the wrong way around. It's always fun first, study later. Everybody knows." Satisfied with his argument, Naruto sat back and smiled to himself.

"The Land of Fire is the most powerful of all the Lands in the magical world," The Reaper suddenly said. Then it chuckled. "And _you_ are going to be King."

Gritting his teeth, Naruto lurched forward and pulled the Reaper by its filthy cloak towards him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Then he snatched his hand back like it had been burned. He'd forgotten how old and ugly the cloth was. "You don't think I'll be a great king? Not that I care what you think, obviously."

"I thought that perhaps you could not die by a Reaper's touch because you were destined for something great." It leaned down quickly, putting its cloth covered face a hair's width away from Naruto's. "I see now that that's not it. It must be something else." Then it released a single, scoffing sound.

The rage and the humiliation that bubbled up within Naruto had no hope of stopping. There was no way he could let the Reaper get off with that. He launched himself off the chair, ignoring Iruka's protest. Only the Reaper evaded him. It moved swiftly to the other side of the room, tilted its head like a taunting cat, and disappeared like it usually did; in a haze of smoke.

"Bitch!" Naruto screamed after it. "Son of a bitch! Don't insult me and then run away!"

Once again ignoring Iruka's attempt to calm him down, Naruto sped out of the study, slamming the door behind him, and raced to his room. There was only one other place that the Reaper ever ventured, with or without Naruto, and that was the prince's own bedroom. Ever since its first day here, where it had wandered as it pleased and scared several servants into panic attacks, the Reaper had learned to only stick to Naruto's side. When it got sick of Naruto, as things tend to happen, it locked itself in Naruto's bedroom.

Despite his anger and staggering need to hurt the Reaper for what it said earlier, Naruto didn't go to it. A hurtful truth rung in his head from the Reaper's mocking, and it brought on a pain in his chest to realise that he had given the Reaper a reason to mock him. Naruto didn't know it well, but he knew it enough to know that the Reaper was a truthful creature. It was almost honest to a fault. If it mocked Naruto's capability to be King someday, then more likely than not, Naruto had given it a reason to. And that was what hurt the most.

Naruto knew that a lot of people had doubts about his willingness to do whatever it took it be a _good_ king. His reckless and playful actions in the villages outside the castle were known throughout the kingdom. Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew how irresponsible he was being, but he never had any intention of being young and reckless for the rest of his life! There just wasn't anything wrong with having some fun before he got serious about his duties. And yes, he knew what his duties were; he just didn't like them. Many people had the wrong impression of him and Naruto always thought it was fine, because one day in the future he was going to prove them wrong. There wasn't any point right now in arguing with them. He could yell til he was blue in the face about how he really did love the kingdom and they wouldn't believe him. Actions spoke louder than words, after all.

He always thought he'd be okay with people having the wrong impression of him. In time he'd prove to them how great he could be.

So why was he so agitated over the Reaper? What did it matter what _it_ thought of him as future King? The Reaper didn't even live in the Land of Fire… it didn't even live, period.

All these questions and torment, and the Reaper has only been here for four days. If Naruto had any hope of surviving until it eventually went away, he needed to do something. He couldn't give the Reaper any more to taunt him with. He needed to grow up, take on responsibilities that were his to begin with. He could be a great King, could be a great Prince to the Land. He could show the Reaper.

But…

Naruto didn't need to prove himself to a killer. Not a murderer, no.

But then again, it really burned at him to know that the Reaper thought he was a big, great loser at life.

On the other hand, he really shouldn't bother himself with what the filthy Reaper thought of him. He'd never been bothered about what people thought of him.

But…

"Ah!" He yelled. He fisted his hands in his hair and shut his eyes tight, as if to stop the smothering thoughts from going around and around in a circle. He bent over and yelled into his knees. "Stupid Reaper!"

"You… Your Highness?"

"Huh?"

A guard was hovering near Naruto, close enough to jump in and help if help was needed, but far away enough to escape if it turned out to be another one of Naruto's crazy rants about the Reaper.

"Are you alright, Sir?"

"No," the prince moaned pitifully. "The Reaper is ruining my life! I don't know what I did to deserve this, seriously."

"Oh!" At the mention of the Reaper, the guard grew rigid –not that Naruto blamed him- and gave Naruto a sympathetic look. "Well, hang in there, Highness."

The guard's lame advice didn't make him feel better. What did, though, was the casual way that he'd said 'Highness.' Naruto had made it a personal mission of his to show everyone around him that they needn't be so formal with him. He was their prince, but he wasn't any better than them.

"I don't think I can do it. It's gonna be around me all the time," he shuddered, "touching me! I can't even begin to guess how old that thing is. Does it ever even take a bath?" He turned large, horrified blue eyes to the guard. "Does it?! And I let that thing touch me!"

The other man let out an unexpected laugh, his head thrown back as he clutched at his belly. Naruto should be peeved that his amusement came from Naruto's very own pain and suffering –and he was, a little- but the man was laughing. Naruto could never be mad at anyone who was laughing and so obviously having a fun time.

"It doesn't mean you have to sit back and take it," the older man said at last. "Knowing you, Your Highness, you'll find some way to make its stay as miserable as yours."

It was like a sudden explosion of light. Naruto's world had been a dark, hopeless place, but now; thanks to the guard whose name Naruto didn't even know, he had hope once more. He could go on. His life was not yet over! He was going to fight, to hang onto his life! Uzumaki Naruto never gave up. He could overcome any obstacle. He would never give up and bring light into his world! And… he was going to forget how melodramatic he was being in a few short hours, because it was embarrassing, and wasn't worth remembering.

"Thanks!"

He left the guard there to ponder over what just happened.

Naruto, as a child, was a prankster. And as a prankster, he was ashamed that he couldn't come up with a way to get back at the Reaper. He'd just stood there and let the Reaper insult him, and then have the gall to be infuriated by it. Violence had clouded judgement and that was all he thought he could do to the Reaper, when really, there were better alternatives. For example, why should Naruto waste energy with insulting the Reaper, when he could enjoy himself and make its stay here miserable? Just from the way that the Reaper seemed to be old fashioned, sometimes confused by the littlest things, Naruto could already imagine all the things he could do to tease it. Already his life with the Reaper as his shadow was looking up.

**x**

Okay, putting everything aside, the thing that bothered Naruto more than he thought appropriate about the Reaper was how dirty it was. Well, Naruto _assumed_ it was dirty. It didn't actually smell and there wasn't a speck of dust on its robe covered body. He knew this after an embarrassing situation where he'd leaned a little too close to it while it tried once again to kill him. Awkward didn't even come close to describing how he'd felt when Iruka had walked in on them and then run back out of his study, spluttering and blushing. Naruto knew that Iruka knew better than to think anything of it, because Reaper equals dead, and dead equates to unattractive. But, again, just like when his dad had walked in on them, embarrassment crept up on him.

Anyway, Naruto's point being that he couldn't get rid of the feeling that the Reaper hadn't had a nice bath since it became a Reaper. How long ago that was, he had no idea. What if it had been a hundred years ago? A thousand years? It seriously needed to clean itself up, if only to stop Naruto's paranoia at all the germs and filth that that thing was carrying around.

"You need to take a bath," he said one day, late into the night when he and the death dealer were alone in his massive, richly decorated bedroom. "_Please_ take a bath. I'll even let you use _my_ bath. That's how much I want you to clean up. Please." When the Reaper remained silent and just hovered there, head tilting sideways as it examined Naruto, he continued. "Do you want me to beg? I'll do it. I'm being serious right now. I can't stand to be around you any longer. You smell like death!"

"I do not," the Reaper snapped, "smell like death. You lie."

"Okay," the prince relented. "You don't smell like death… or anything at all, but you still need to take a bath. I mean an actual bath, where you take off that filthy rag you're wearing and submerge yourself in clean water." The image of the Reaper without its robe presented itself to Naruto's brain in the form of a skeleton. He paled and stepped far, far away from the Reaper. "Oh my… You're a skeleton. You're an actual…"

"You are the stupidest prince I've ever met."

What?

"What?"

"You are already old enough to have learnt these things." The Reaper straightened and floated closer to Naruto.

Second thing on Naruto's list of things to seriously discuss with the Reaper: personal space.

"Reapers don't have physical forms. These cloaks are the only things that allow us to interact with the living world. If I take them off, I will be nothing but chakra. Do you know what happens to chakra without a physical host?"

When Naruto failed to answer due to shock, the Reaper answered itself, "The same thing that happens to clouds, or fog, on a windy day. Do you understand me, or shall I repeat myself in simpler terms?"

That last comment snapped the blonde right out of it. "Would you stop insulting my intelligence? I'm not stupid."

"But you act like you are."

"That's right! No, wait, that's not right."

The Reaper made a huffing sound, though coming through the mask, Naruto suspected it was a laugh.

"You are the crown Prince and yet there are so many things that you don't know, but should."

Naruto sneered. "Because I'm the Prince, I should know a lot? Would you still be expecting the same thing from me if I was just a poor farm boy?"

"No, I would not. But you _are_ the Prince. You have the privilege that many don't. You have a chance to be educated, yet you take it for granted." The Reaper turned away from Naruto, as if it couldn't stand the mere sight of Naruto, and sneered. "You were born lucky."

The Reaper's words didn't hit him with shock and realisation. Naruto didn't have an epic epiphany from it. He just stood there and listened. For the first time in a long time, Naruto just listened. This wasn't a message he hadn't heard before. His dad, Iruka, Kakashi, old lady Tsunade and so many of his friends have said things along the same line as the Reaper. He'd heard them all, but he'd never listened. He always figured he'd learn when he needed to. He had so much time. He needn't rush.

But it was different coming from the Reaper, wasn't it?

With the Reaper here, Naruto just wasn't sure if he still had all the time he thought he did. It was a representation of exactly how _little_ time Naruto had.

Maybe tomorrow his immunisation would run out or stop working. The Reaper would touch him like it usually did, and then that would be the end of his life. He wouldn't get to do all the things he thought he would do. He wouldn't have died of old age with a wife and kids and grandkids like he'd always dreamt. He wouldn't be King and see his Kingdom grow.

Naruto ducked his head and willed his eyes to dry.

"What do you care?" He croaked. "Why are you trying to make me into a better person? Ever since you've been here, you're always trying to make me learn and grow. Why?"

The Reaper turned to look at him, but Naruto didn't see. His wet blue eyes were trained solely on the ground, where he thought he deserved to be for the way he was feeling.

When it spoke, Naruto could have sworn sunlight was brushing along his skin with how deep and gentle the Reaper's voice was. Other than the voices of his dad and mum –the latter's being a distant memory- Naruto had never heard a voice that raised all the hair along his arms and on the back of his neck. He'd never heard a voice that could make him cry. Or maybe it wasn't the voice that did him in, but rather the words it spoke. "You could be great. Every magic that exists in the magical world would not allow you to die by a Reaper's touch. You are destined for greatness."

Naruto couldn't believe it, simple as that, and his disbelief showed.

"The last person to be _favoured_ led a rebellion to free his people of a vile, corrupted lord that had enslaved the Land of Rain." Admiration seeped through the Reaper's soothing voice and it almost made Naruto sick. How could he ever have a hope of living up to someone like that? Leading rebellions? Freeing people from a corrupted lord? Naruto could barely make it to each of his lessons with Iruka! And of course he knew who the Reaper was talking about. Lord Pein. Lord Pein who was cleaning up his country of the decade long war as they spoke. Lord Pein; who led the rebellion that freed hundreds of thousands of people from a deep depression born of a single man's greed and corruption. Lord Pein and King Minato: two of the greatest men to have ever lived. Naruto didn't see himself getting onto that list. Not ever.

The longer he stood there with the Reaper, with a supposedly majestic future ahead of him, the sicker Naruto felt.

"So," he gasped out finally, when his eyes dried a bit more and his voice returned to him. "So you believe in me? Just because you think I'm _destined for greatness_, _you_ believe in me? Is that why you're always trying to make me better?"

"I don't believe in you. I believe in your future."

"Well it doesn't matter what you believe in!" Naruto snapped. The hurt that overcame him was both unexpected and confusing. Honestly, the Reaper's words cut him deep, but that was all. It was the words that hurt him, not who or what they were coming from. "That future is stupid. I'm not going to suddenly become great just because you tell me that's my future. I will be great on my own terms. Stop trying to change me or make me better. Just stand there and watch me!"

He shoved the Reaper aside -the first of many touches to be initiated by Naruto- and rushed out of his room. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care. But he needed to be far, far away from the Reaper and its deceivingly gentle voice and devastating words. His world had just been uprooted. He had just been told that he was destined for greatness, but he didn't believe it. He didn't believe it, but he wanted to so badly. The future Naruto that the Reaper had compared to Lord Pein of the Land of Rain, the one who was so great that the fates and destiny allowed him to escape death - _that_ was the son that King Minato could be proud of. That was what Naruto wanted so much that it pained him.

**x**

Itachi stared after the quickly retreating figure of the young Prince. He didn't know quite yet what to make of him. He was young and he was reckless, irresponsible, but he had a future ahead of him. It had always been known, since nineteen years ago, that this young child was bound for greatness. But it had always been background knowledge. It was just fact. Now Itachi wondered how Naruto was going to be _great_. Would be grow up to be great because the fates willed him to be? Would he do nothing and still turn out great anyway? Or would he realise what he had to do to be the King that the Land of Fire deserved and grow? Perhaps, by revealing his destiny to him, Itachi had kick-started the maturation of Prince Naruto.

However he would do it, Uzumaki Naruto was bound for greatness, and Itachi had to believe in his future.

Itachi would never be able to take his life, but it was just as important that he stayed by the Prince's side. Sooner or later, Madara would grow impatient with Itachi's lack of progress. Then the older Reaper would make his move, and Itachi would figure out what he was up to.

**x**

… _Far away from the castle, at the border of the Land of Fire, an ancient being lurked restlessly, reluctant to enter into the Land from fear of being detected, but unwilling to leave in fear that he would lose sight of what he wanted. _

_And so he lurked. Long, dark fabric swayed as he paced back and forth, the grass beneath him wilting and dying. _

_So deep in his thoughts, he failed to sense another pair of eyes watching him._

* * *

Don't be afraid to leave me a review, guys! Tell me what you think! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: Gosh; stings every time I say this, but I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot.

Note: Please enjoy and don't hesitate to leave a review. This particular chapter has not been beta-read, as Redwitch0587 has been unavailable. But I'm sure we'll come back to it when we have time.

Warning: There's always going to be a slight possibility of out-of-character-ness, I can't do much about that.

x

**My Days with the Reaper**

Chapter Four

x

Being summoned by the King was not an unusual occurrence for Iruka. Ever since he had been employed by his Majesty to educate his young wild son, Iruka's visits to the King's study had always been to update the King on his son's progress –usually the lack thereof. The elf had always visited the King in his study with a heavy heart and regret, for his reports on the Prince's education typically left the King with a worried frown and disappointed eyes. There was no one in the Leaves Kingdom who could persuade Prince Naruto to take his education seriously; not when he was young and a wild prankster and not when he was older and a flamboyant player. Despite his best efforts, Iruka could only drill the most basic of knowledge in to the Prince's mind and hope it stuck.

But today, oh, today Iruka had great news to report. There was a slight bounce in his steps and when the heavy double doors to the King's study were opened for him, and he was greeted with his Majesty's wide, expectant grin, Iruka knew for sure that King Minato knew he had great news.

Iruka bowed deeply.

"Please," the King urged casually. "Tell me the news I've been waiting for."

"Your Majesty, the Prince has not missed one lesson in over three weeks! He's shown a keener interest in the subjects I'm teaching him and has often requested he be taught in certain topics which interest him especially."

The King nodded along, his wild blonde locks spiking in every direction, only slightly more tamed than his son's own hair. A smug grin adorned his handsome face and he made no attempt to hide it, nodding along as Iruka made his report, as if he'd known every exact word Iruka was going to speak.

"And what are these topics he's interested in?"

Iruka's own grin faltered a little. "Ugh, he's requested several times that I teach him all I know about Reapers, Your Majesty. Other times he is very interested in the Outlaw clans and their war."

"Yes," the King smiled. "I figured that was what he'd be interested in. But we have very limited knowledge on Reapers, don't we, Iruka? How long can Naruto's interest last if we barely have anything to teach him?"

Iruka smiled sheepishly. Very, _very_ little was known about Reapers. Very little.

"I suspect he's less interested in actually learning what I know about Reapers, and more interested in making the Reaper uncomfortable. I'm afraid Naruto's gotten back in touch with his prankster side, Your Majesty."

Despite the slight setback, King Minato still maintained his smile as he shook his head. "That's alright. As long as he shows up to your lessons, and as long as he takes most of his education seriously, that's all I ask for now."

Iruka bowed his head to the King's words.

"His escapades to his many lady friends outside the castle haven't stopped, have they?"

Iruka jumped at the voice as the shadow in the corner of the room materialised into Hatake Kakashi, Captain of the Royal Guards and a self-proclaimed pervert.

Glaring at the laid back man, Iruka answered, "No, they have not."

"Oh well, I'm surprised anyone's willing to take him to bed with the Reaper looming behind him. In any case, I still count this report as one with good news. Don't take that away from me, boys." The King sat back in his massive chair, a pleased smile still adorned on his face. Having already heard the good news he's been waiting for, he considered his part in the report done.

"I suspect he only leaves to castle to visit his… friends, when the Reaper is in a deep sleep."

"The Reaper sleeps?!" Iruka claimed; shock apparent on his tan face as he looked back and forth between his King and the King's Guard. "He sleeps?!" He claimed again. "How do you know this, Kakashi?"

"I went to check up on Naruto once, very early in the morning, to find his Highness' bed to be empty and the Reaper was just floating there. I tried to speak to him, but to this day I don't think the Reaper even realised I was in the same room as he was."

"That's so…" Iruka trailed off when he couldn't come up with words to express his surprise. "Why would Reapers need to sleep? They're dead."

"I don't think it's sleeping as much as it is deep meditation, Iruka. Anything with a conscience, dead or alive, would have to have a way to keep them from going insane." The King spoke wisely. "It's difficult to comprehend with the way we view Reapers, I know. Reapers are not evil creatures. They don't kill for any other purpose then to keep the cycle of life and death turning. People shouldn't be afraid of death, but they are and they blame Reapers. It's easiest to blame those who do not care enough to defend themselves. Look at our Reaper! Naruto is calling him an 'it,' but he doesn't care enough to try to tell Naruto that he's a 'he.' He simply doesn't care for the snarky ways of a teenage boy!" He trailed off laughing.

Iruka half-heartedly, reluctantly chuckled. In his mind he tried to imagine the Reaper so deep in his sleep that he failed to notice another presence in the same room as him. He'd never known before today that the Reaper could be so vulnerable. The protective nature within Iruka had him already planning to lecture Naruto. It was one thing to take advantage of the Reaper's inability to instantly wake up, but another altogether to leave someone who had no fighting power by himself in a foreign territory, deeply asleep!

On another note…

"Your Majesty," the elf began. "Forgive me for asking, but you seem to worry so little about the Prince's life. I… I heard that you agreed readily to the Reaper's request. I'm sorry for…"

King Minato held up a hand and Iruka silenced.

"The Reaper can't kill Naruto. At this stage no other Reaper can kill him either. I'm not worried because Naruto's immunity isn't going to just 'run out' or stop working tomorrow or the next day or the next week. There is a reason for death's inability to take Naruto's soul. There is a reason for the Reaper being near Naruto at all times."

"But… the Reaper threatened the lives of everyone in the castle and Naruto's friends. He forced you and the Prince to make an ultimatum."

"No, he did not. You know that a Reaper's touch is an instant death. After a deep and thorough research I found that to be true… _if_ the person the Reaper was touching was fated to pass. He could touch anyone he wanted, but if they weren't predestined to die, then they won't." Here his blue eyes momentarily grew distant. "This is not common knowledge. I believe the Reaper thought I was in the dark about it."

"Oh," Iruka breathed; relieved.

"Though it is important that Naruto doesn't know, Iruka. Whatever the Reaper has planned, we must let him do his work." The King's piercing blue eyes gazed deep into Iruka's own brown ones, and the elf felt himself nodding. "We mustn't interfere for any reason. This is bigger than us and we have to believe that the Reaper is doing what must be done."

"It is a matter of life and death," Kakashi muttered darkly.

King Minato burst into a fit of giggles and Iruka glared at the silver-headed pervert. These two: he'd heard that they were truly like brothers, though before today he'd never had any reason to believe it. Minutes later, when the King failed to contain his giggles and Kakashi stood there like a very smug statue; Iruka threw his hands in the air, rolled his eyes and dismissed himself.

**x**

Iruka had given him the afternoon off. It left him reeling because that's never happened before and something must be wrong or he had something planned or Naruto was dreaming. Either way, it was too good to be true. Iruka had willingly –with the actual words from his mouth- said that Naruto had the rest of the day off and could do whatever he wanted.

If this had happened weeks before, Naruto would have already been on his way out of the castle ground and into town. But alas, an agent of death tends to be a turn off and Naruto was left to wander the massive stone castle that he had grown up in.

At this moment he was trying to find Kakashi, who he knew would be his sparring partner. But as always the man would not be found unless he wanted to be found. And lately he never wanted to be found by Naruto. Maybe that had something to do with the Prince's second shadow, or maybe it had something to do with sneaking off to read inappropriate materials alone. Whatever it may be, Naruto was stuck alone with his Reaper.

He briefly contemplated finding company with his dad, but the older blonde was currently organising the annual Clan Heads Meeting, and that was not something he wanted to be involved in until he himself was King. That one was a messy business just waiting to blow up in his face.

"May I suggest going to the library, Prince?"

"Shut up. I already said no."

"I thought you were taking your studies seriously."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to spend all my spare time in the library. I'll study when I have to, alright?"

The Reaper sighed.

"You haven't touched me in a while," Naruto observed suddenly. From his peripheral he saw the Reaper snap its head up, as if suddenly reminded. "Come on, I'll even make it easier for you." He held up a large, tan hand, palms up. "Come on."

The Reaper looked at his hand, then at his face, then back down at his hand before finally up at his face again. Naruto could only tell because of the motion of its fabric covered head.

"Have you grown so confident in your immunity?"

The prince scoffed. "Please. I'm starting to think it's you, not me. I bet you're having performance issues. It's okay, happens to everybody. Well, not me, obviously, cause I'm great, but you now… almost everybody else."

The Reaper remained silent for a long time and just when Naruto was starting to think it didn't understand his allusion, it spoke. "You're disgusting."

That pulled a loud, throaty laugh out of Naruto. He dropped his hand and turned around to continue moving through the castle halls. He didn't have to look to know that the Reaper was following him. He could tell by the sound of its thick, ancient cloaks moving as it glided just behind Naruto.

"Hey, you know, I know now that you don't have a physical form and all, but you can still have your cloaks washed at least, right?"

"That means that I would still have to take them off."

"Oh, well, I dunno. Can't you come up with a way to wash them? It would really make me feel better to see you clean up or something."

"They are not dirty, Prince. They are old, but they are in no way filthy."

"You say that…" Naruto muttered off with a pout. Another long stretch of silence as they aimlessly travelled and an idea formed in Naruto's head. "Hey! You wanna be my sparring partner?"

"What?" The Reaper snapped; its voice suddenly strained and not at all its usual smooth self. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Come on, you won't kill me. And I just bet you'd like to have a go at punching me in the face."

"Yes, I would like that."

"So you'll spar with me?"

"No."

A high whine escaped Naruto's lips and he threw his hands in the air, pouting. "Why not?!"

"It would be unfair," the Reaper stated firmly, calm as if it was scolding a child. "You are a pureblood elemental. You have the wind at your command. On top of that you're unreasonably built. Do you see yet why I wasn't stupid enough to agree to spar with you?"

Naruto examined his arms, flexing. "I am not unreasonably built!" He cried at last. "Look at these! Anyone would kill to have these. I worked hard for them you know. Don't hurt their feelings."

The Reaper remained silent and just watched him while Naruto flexed his biceps alternately, unaware of the picture he presented.

"But yeah, I see what you mean. How 'bout this, I promise to not use my chakra in any way or form, so I can't use the wind. It'll be purely physical. I know I still have the advantage of all these muscles, but you'll have the advantage of not feeling any pain when I hit you. That's fair!"

"You're wrong, I do feel the pain." Naruto wilted. "But they don't last very long. Agreed."

"Yes!" The Prince yelled, punching his fist in the air.

They hurried out of the castle and onto the empty sparring grounds near the castle wall. Naruto was excited. He was always excited to fight, but for the Reaper to agree to it, it must have been as bored as Naruto was. The ground they picked had lush green grass to cushion their falls, but Naruto knew that the more he knocked the Reaper onto it, the more of that grass would die out and the more painful their falls would become. It was simply a matter of improving as time progressed to avoid falling on the hard ground.

They were alone for now. The ground was further out than the rest and it was a hot day. Naruto turned to face his opponent and dramatically shrugged off his coat and shirt. The sun was in the perfect position to make his skin shimmer and Naruto knew it, flaunting his skin and muscles at the Reaper, whom he knew didn't even have a physical body. It was immature, but he simply didn't care.

"Are you ready?" He asked it, crouching into position. "I promise, no chakra and no wind; and I never break a promise."

The Reaper didn't get into position like Naruto did, but it did raise a single hand, palms up. Looking at that single hand right then, Naruto allowed a moment to wonder if this was when his immunity ran out. If that was the case, then he was literally running to his death.

Naruto grunted and swiped an arm at the Reaper's head and, unsurprised when it ducked, followed by bringing his knee up to meet its head. The Reaper's hand, which Naruto had mistakenly taken his eyes off of, came up out of absolutely nowhere and jabbed into his side. The leg he was bringing up froze as his whole body clenched, and the Reaper backed away.

"What was that?" Naruto wheezed as he waited for his body to uncoil.

"That was me using your muscles to my advantage."

"You son of a bitch," Naruto laughed. Once he had control of his body again, he got into another position. "Okay, for real this time. I'm not playing around." The grin on his whiskered face said otherwise.

The Reaper charged and Naruto met it halfway. He threw a wide kick aimed at its middle and the Reaper vanished in dark purple smoke. Before Naruto could open his mouth to protest, it reappeared behind him and circled its arm around his neck. It yanked and Naruto collapsed backwards, though he hardly felt a thing.

"That's cheating!" He yelled from his place on the ground, waiting for the dust to settle. "You can't do that!"

"Why not? I have no legs to swing around."

"Wha… Really?" The Reaper came around to his front and Naruto looked at the place where its legs would be. All he saw were the cloaks. He looked down further to where its feet were supposed to be and found nothing. All he saw were the ragged edges of the ancient fabric. Naruto brought his arm up to lift the edge of the cloak up, but the Reaper moved away. "Okay," the Prince admitted reluctantly. "You can use your disappearing act, but no more surprises, got it?"

The Reaper nodded once.

Their third time at each other lasted longer. Now that he knew all the Reaper's tricks, Naruto could fight on fairer grounds. Naruto liked to use moves that were powerful and caused a greater damage. His body was built like Old Man Jiraiya, tall and powerful, and his moves were just as potent. The Reaper on the other hand moved swiftly and silently, jabbing Naruto here and there, before delivering the final blow which never failed to stun him. From an observer's point of view Naruto knew how he must have looked next to the Reaper: slow and clumsy. But then he would land one single punch to the Reaper's stomach and the thing would fly back several feet. Naruto was power and straightforward movements. The Reaper was all grace and speed.

Naruto was born with accelerated healing, but the Reaper only experienced pain for a few short seconds. In that regard they were equals.

In the end Naruto was just glad no one came out to watch. After a long, _long_ time of endlessly –frustratingly- throwing punches that were either blocked or countered, and not being able to use his chakra to command the wind, Naruto threw cautions to the wind and tackled the Reaper by its middle. He took them both to the ground, which was by now covered in dead, crushed grass. The Reaper tried to use its usual poking and jabbing motion, but Naruto swatted its hands to the ground. He wanted to wrestle, if that was what it took to finally win.

"This is not sparring!" The Reaper snapped from its place on its back on the ground. It fruitlessly tried to wiggle its way free, but Naruto would have none of that.

Naruto grinned and rested all of his weight sitting on the Reaper's stomach.

"Off!" It yelled. "Get off, Naruto."

So shocked to hear his name from the Reaper's covered lips, the young prince failed to respond. He was only removed from the Reaper's stomach when he felt it buck and throw the prince to the side.

"Don't do that again," it said breathlessly.

"Why? Not like you were going to suffocate to death."

"It's undignified, that's why. How would you like a great big idiot to sit on you like a chair?"

"Oi, that was uncalled for." He got up from the ground and dusted himself off, swatting grass from his behind. "You just had to ruin the mood, didn't you?" He didn't look at the Reaper again, just got his shirt and coat and walked back towards the castle. He didn't understand why he couldn't bring himself to look at the Reaper. Something was different now. Was it because the Reaper had finally addressed Naruto by his name, and not just his title or an insulting word? Whatever it was, it now felt wrong for him to unthinkingly be calling the Reaper 'it.' It felt unkind.

With his back to the Reaper, Naruto didn't see as Itachi laid a quivering hand on his cloaked stomach, where Naruto's great weight had been on it and for the first time in twenty years, he felt as if he was indeed suffocating to death.

**x**

Iruka waited until he was sure that Naruto had successfully sneaked off into town. Then, after waiting to make sure the young prince didn't return for any reason, -all the while muttering curses that Naruto would dare to sneak out at all- he went to Naruto's room. The guards let him through easily enough; this wasn't Iruka's first time checking in on the wayward prince.

"The Reaper is still in there," one of the half demon guards warned him before he entered. "I… I don't know what it does, but it didn't follow Naruto."

And of course the guards knew that Naruto snuck out. The prince may have thought he was being sneaky, but he wasn't. Not at all. The only reason he wasn't followed in these more intimate escapades was because Kakashi himself was trailing the prince. Of course that's not to say that the Prince wasn't capable of defending himself. It was just that, Naruto and Kakashi by themselves were more than enough of a force to be reckoned with. Anyone else would only get in their way should anything happen.

"I understand," Iruka replied, nodding politely to the guards before slipping through the heavy double doors.

The room that he stood in was a large living area. It had large, comfortable seats and plush rugs. The windows were tall and slender and each had rich red curtains. Two tall bookshelves stood on the opposite side of the wall from the windows. On the opposite side of the room were the double doors that led into Naruto's bedroom.

Iruka crossed the room and knocked quietly on one of the doors, leaning in close to hear if he got any response. He did not.

Slowly he turned the knob and pushed the door in. Naruto's chamber was dimly lit, all different shades of yellow and orange. The floor was littered with scrolls and pieces of clothing. Iruka suspected that the room wasn't being cleaned daily like it used to be, not since the Reaper has made it his room as well. But still, it shouldn't be as messy and upheaval as this… not unless Naruto and the Reaper had been fighting again. Theirs were fights of epic proportions. Since neither could die and one healed incredible fast while the other only experienced pain momentarily, the most damage tend to transfer to their surroundings.

Their fights were not the same as their sparring. He'd seen them this afternoon. At first he'd been alarmed, really, but in the end nobody had gotten hurt and Naruto had burned off excess energy, which was a win for everyone. When Naruto and the Reaper sparred, things had been controlled, the air between them slightly more civil. When they fought, which happened often, Naruto's temper flew straight out the window and he broke things. The Reaper's words would turn from mocking to downright damaging. Just as well, because Iruka knew Naruto well enough to know that words were one of only a few ways he could be hurt with. And when they fought, the Reaper's words hurt… and Naruto broke things, hurling both words and objects at the death bringer.

When the pair fought, Iruka saw a side of Naruto he'd never seen before. It was unsettling to see what monster they brought out in each other.

Anyway, he was getting off-tracked. He'd come in here -into Naruto's room- for a reason, and his reasoning was there, beside Naruto's high, massive bed.

The Reaper was as he always was whenever Iruka saw him. He was long and broad, though Iruka thought all that broadness must be due to the bulk of his several layers of cloaks. In this room, where there was hardly any wind, his cloaks remained still. His head, however, was hung low.

Iruka took a moment to take him in, awed. The Reaper rather looked like a hanged man. The image wasn't helped at all by the ancient rope tide around his neck, giving his head a shape. And he was so still.

"Re… Reaper?" Iruka whispered.

When the Reaper didn't respond in anyway, not even a twitch, a giddy laugh erupted from Iruka's lips. He clamped his hand cover his mouth straight away and checked to see that the Reaper was still asleep… or as Kakashi and the King put it, in a deep meditation. He wasn't going to do anything, of course not, but he needed to see. They knew so little about Reapers that _this_ was a new discovery. Iruka needed to see him, just so he could write that down somewhere and the world would now know that little bit more about Reapers. Although, come to think of it, the King seemed so know so much already. Then again, maybe he kept what he knew about Reapers to himself for a reason. King Minato was not an unreasonable man.

Iruka stood in the doorway, body out and head poked in. And he just looked at the Reaper.

It was disconcerting how unaware he was, how vulnerable. An army could march into the castle right now and he would still be sleeping. Iruka knew this. He knew the signs of someone in deep meditation. And yet the Reaper was just floating there, resting away as if this castle wasn't full of people who were terrified of him and may or may not act irrationally. Well, to be fair, he did have the ultimate protection of no one being able to be killed, but Iruka was sure the Reaper could experience pain. Still… this was not the place for someone who didn't have offensive powers to be sleeping so soundly.

And Naruto….

Oh, just wait til Iruka got his hands on him. What was he thinking, seriously? Iruka understood that he didn't like the Reaper very much, but he should also know that leaving him here all alone –sleeping or not- was a foolish mistake. If the Reaper got hurt –and Iruka knew there were some who were so scared of death that they would even think about harming the King's guest- then Naruto would be the one most hurt. Iruka knew his student. Naruto would never be able to live with himself if the Reaper got hurt while he was out there frolicking around. The boy needed to think about things and stop listening to his cravings.

The elf tutor sighed and clutched the door tightly. He looked at the Reaper for another long moment, taking in the still form and the hanging head, before he silently retreated.

**x**

The morning was a beautiful thing. The sun was just peaking over the thick foliage of the Land of Fire, casting a refreshing hue over the land. There was dew on the blades of the lush green grass under him. Looking down on the grass, the overwhelming need to touch it and feel it under his feet hit him, but he didn't have any feet. There was no way he could feel the grass except to touch it through his cloaked hands.

But then that would kill it. That would kill it completely and leave a brown, dead patch in its place. He didn't fully understand why that was. How could trees and grass be killed by him, but when it came to people, only those that were destined could be killed? He really didn't see the point of killing grass. Unless, in a revolutionary way, it was a trait passed down to remind Reapers of their powers. In any case, Itachi had more important things to worry about. These philosophical thoughts could wait.

Quietly Itachi let a soft sigh escape from his none-existing _lips_. This might've been a moment where anyone would relent and flop down onto the grass and lean their back against the sakura tree. But of course he couldn't do that. That would kill the beautiful tree behind him, and then Naruto would really find a way to kill him. He'd seen the young prince here often, had accompanied him here just as many times. This tree had sentimental values for him and Itachi would not risk killing it.

Oh, but on another note he really wanted to touch those soft pink petals.

"Hey!" The Prince cheered, coming to a stop next to Itachi under the cherry blossom tree. His hair was wild and still damp from his shower, and he wore a large, satisfied smile on his tan face.

If Itachi had a nose he would have wrinkled it in disgust, considering that Naruto had only climbed back into his room earlier this morning, smelling of sex and something else that Itachi would rather not say.

"Are you sure you've showered properly?" He said aloofly. "You still stink of alcohol and women."

Instead of being offended or angry, the prince only grinned and slapped Itachi on the shoulder, before flopping down onto the grass.

"I swear being around me has made you a better person," the blonde said, grinning as he plucked a blade of grass. "You can joke now! But I'll have you know that my shower went great. I'm clean now and everything."

"I was not joking," Itachi muttered lowly, but Naruto heard and he only threw his head back and laughed. "How do you have the energy to venture out every night?"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto evaded. "I don't go out every night. Ya must'a been dreaming."

"I don't dream and you do go out every night."

Determined to not let his good mood go to waste so early in the day, Naruto said "Look, let's not talk about this, okay? I always come back to you in the morning. Anyway, I actually came out here looking for you for a reason. I have a question."

Looking curiously down on top of the prince's blond head, Itachi allowed himself an exaggerated sigh. "That's a first time," he commented. Surprised with himself, he thought about his comment and what made it sound strange. It could be that he even made a comment at all. Days prior he never would have indulged the prince with comments and questions. Days before his tone would have been so formal. But now he spoke so casually to the prince. Naruto was right. He had changed Itachi.

"What is your question, Prince?"

If Naruto noticed his sudden return of formality, he didn't show.

"Well, okay. So I noticed that you don't touch some living things like… trees and stuff. That's because you can kill them too, right?" Itachi nodded. "So then… what? You take their souls too?" An incredulous looks appeared on his face and a snort escaped his lips.

Again, if Itachi still had certain body parts, like eyes, he would use them to their fullest and _roll_ them.

"Plants are able to be killed, but they don't contain the souls that are essential to the cycle in which Reapers maintain. We don't regularly touch plants as we do people. Plants have their own cycle. The people are our main concern."

"Even the humans?"

Itachi glared down at the prince. "Yes. They have souls too."

"I know! I just meant… I thought Reapers might only be responsible for the people of the magical world, you know? Humans don't have magic."

Itachi didn't respond and instead waited for the prince to realise how badly he sounded.

"Yeah, let's just forget I said anything. The actual point of this conversation is…" He stood up and stretched, reaching above their heads to the lowest hanging cherry blossom branch. He broke it off, brought a cloth out of his pocket, wrapped it around the limb and held it out for Itachi. "Here. Enjoy."

Itachi didn't take it for a long moment, but he did take it, slowly, and held it preciously.

**x**

He missed his brother. He missed him. He missed him. He missed him… like he missed his arms and legs and beating heart from when he was alive.

Where was he?

Well he was in the Land of Fire, that much he knew… but _where_, precisely?

What was he doing in there? If he was there to do his usual duty he would be out already, but he wasn't. He'd been in there for weeks. What could be holding him up? Or had he been trapped?

He heard of that. Maybe he didn't believe it but he'd most certainly heard of the possibility that the living could draw up markings and lay traps for a Reaper. It was possible that his brother was trapped and was currently waiting for his help. It was a possibility that had crossed his minds several times over the last few days. The need to be by his brother's side was staggering, overwhelming most of the times. Twice already he'd crossed over into the living world and gone to the Land of Fire in search of his brother, and twice Madara had intercepted him. The older Reaper had soothed him with calming words and reassurances that his brother was fine and safe. At that point in time he had forced his attention away from his brother and onto the older Reaper.

Madara knew how much he and his brother loved each other. He should have let him into the Leaves Kingdom to search for his brother. Instead he had made it his mission to stop him every time.

He obviously had something to hide. And if his older brother had been with him, he would have advised him to keep watch on the older Reaper. Reapers only had one job. There shouldn't be a need for any secrecy.

But if Madara had placed Itachi in any sort of danger, he wouldn't care if there were only three Reapers left. He'd bring that number down to two.

* * *

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